Whilst packing up to leave Kenya in a weeks time, I found myself re-discovering a book that has spent the past 6 months sitting sleepily on the tiny table in our Nairobi home that we call 'the library'.
I gazed at the cover....'EMPATHY', it announces, A Handbook for REVOLUTION.
It took me by surprise and I tried to recall why I bought it.
The book title leaves no-one in any doubt what it's about - A Handbook on Empathy! ... that certainly sounds heavy duty! My experience is that you shouldn't expect a handbook for anything these days; manuals are a luxury. Nowadays you're expected to intuitively know how to plumb in a washing machine, change a hoover bag or navigate your way around your terrifyingly-whizzy new Samsung mobile. Handbooks are definitely 'old school' and yet here I am looking at a vast tome that declares it can help me get my brain operating with Empathic efficiency.
So what was it all about? Inside my signed copy by Roman Krznaric I took a scanty peep and discovered that the author begins talking immediately about the radical power of Empathy to change the world and highlights 6 Habits he believes will help us all to behave with greater empathy & kindness towards our fellow human beings. He calls these The 6 Habits of Highly Empathic People.
Dipping into the book my interest grows by the minute. I catch the words by Thoreau,
"Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant"
These words resonate as I think of the months we've been here, spending each day observing the world through the eyes of those around us - seeing their poverty and suffering, battling with no sanitation or clean water, living with chronic levels of un-safety, enduring oppression by those who are meant to protect them and fighting to survive the shame associated with endemic violence, rape and deprivation.
I recall that The Ashoka Foundation believes that every child should be taught Empathy as part of the national curriculum! It's one of their missions/goals for the foundation - the conscious teaching of empathy skills to the next generation of adults. I guess they believe that the world needs it, that there's a deficit of empathy, kindness and compassion in the world. Yes, I can certainly go along with that view.
My Handbook says we are hard-wired for empathy but, as Roman says, we need to learn how to switch on our Empathic brains...."Shifting our mental framework to recognise that empathy is at the core of human nature and that it can be expanded throughout our lives" - interesting!
My Empathy guru has caught my attention big time. I read on....
"We need to make a conscious effort to step into others people's shoes - including our 'enemies' - to acknowledge their humanity, individuality and perspective"....."Learning to foster curiosity about strangers and radical listening and taking off our emotional masks"
Ok, that's it, I've decided. This book is certainly going into the bag that heads for the UK and then on to S.Africa in October. I'm ready to explore deeper and learn more about the EMPATHY REVOLUTION
It took me by surprise and I tried to recall why I bought it.
The book title leaves no-one in any doubt what it's about - A Handbook on Empathy! ... that certainly sounds heavy duty! My experience is that you shouldn't expect a handbook for anything these days; manuals are a luxury. Nowadays you're expected to intuitively know how to plumb in a washing machine, change a hoover bag or navigate your way around your terrifyingly-whizzy new Samsung mobile. Handbooks are definitely 'old school' and yet here I am looking at a vast tome that declares it can help me get my brain operating with Empathic efficiency.
So what was it all about? Inside my signed copy by Roman Krznaric I took a scanty peep and discovered that the author begins talking immediately about the radical power of Empathy to change the world and highlights 6 Habits he believes will help us all to behave with greater empathy & kindness towards our fellow human beings. He calls these The 6 Habits of Highly Empathic People.
Dipping into the book my interest grows by the minute. I catch the words by Thoreau,
"Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant"
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| Street life in the Southlands slum |
These words resonate as I think of the months we've been here, spending each day observing the world through the eyes of those around us - seeing their poverty and suffering, battling with no sanitation or clean water, living with chronic levels of un-safety, enduring oppression by those who are meant to protect them and fighting to survive the shame associated with endemic violence, rape and deprivation.
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| Trevor leading a Leadership Cafe in Karen for our friends - a group of young entrepreneurs |
I recall that The Ashoka Foundation believes that every child should be taught Empathy as part of the national curriculum! It's one of their missions/goals for the foundation - the conscious teaching of empathy skills to the next generation of adults. I guess they believe that the world needs it, that there's a deficit of empathy, kindness and compassion in the world. Yes, I can certainly go along with that view.
My Handbook says we are hard-wired for empathy but, as Roman says, we need to learn how to switch on our Empathic brains...."Shifting our mental framework to recognise that empathy is at the core of human nature and that it can be expanded throughout our lives" - interesting!
My Empathy guru has caught my attention big time. I read on....
"We need to make a conscious effort to step into others people's shoes - including our 'enemies' - to acknowledge their humanity, individuality and perspective"....."Learning to foster curiosity about strangers and radical listening and taking off our emotional masks"
 |
| Baby elephants playing at the Shedrick orphanage, Nairobi |
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| My rendition of the babies in charcoal - 5'x4' |
Ok, that's it, I've decided. This book is certainly going into the bag that heads for the UK and then on to S.Africa in October. I'm ready to explore deeper and learn more about the EMPATHY REVOLUTION
